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MuckRock FOIA Request Releases Christopher Hitchens' FBI Files
v3rgEz writes: Outspoken atheist firebrand Christopher Hitchens was never one for understatement, and apparently the FBI took notice. A Freedom of Information request from investigative news site MuckRock has resulted in the release of his 19-page FBI file, including details such as how his interest in socialism in college sparked heightened monitoring when given a scholarship to come to the United States. Some of the pages had actually been previously released, but were then removed from the FBI's own website a few years ago. Despite the monitoring, Hitchens files have nothing on the hundreds of pages the FBI had on Richard Feynman.
I sent an FOIA request on myself to the NSA for fun/curiosity. (Technically, it's "Privacy Act" request when you're doing yourself.) It's pretty easy.
It took them three pages to tell me, "Go fuck yourself." Every line was peppered with "this doesn't acknowledge the existence, or lack of existence of any records relating to you."
Their whole reason for denying my request of "any applicable records" was: because the NSA program in the news is classified, any records caught by the program are also classified. Except that any records not found by a classified method wouldn't be classified by that logic (Google, anyone?). So in otherwords, it was like I said, it was more of a "Fuck you, peasant" letter.
Aside from the "zOMG!!!! He belonged to some 'socialist' club in college!" bullshit, most of the rest of the file seemed to be variations on 'some foreign guy wants to be a permanent resident; we have absolutely nothing interesting on him'.
I suppose you might as well write it down if you go to the trouble of checking; but even J Edgar Hoover's paranoid little minions apparently couldn't find too much to hyperventilate about.